J. Cole’s “Wet Dreamz” Goes Platinum

J. Cole's third studio album 2014 Forrest Hills Drive came out in December of 2014, and yet, it continues to be a tour de force and Cole's most successful album to date. In May, the album earned its first platinum single, "No Role Modelz," what was then Cole's third such platinum releases (joining "Work Out" and "Power Trip"), but now "Wet Dreamz" has likewise sold a million copies according to the RIAA.

Much of the attention paid to 2014 Forrest Hills Drive focuses on the fact that the album is featureless, a completely insulated work from Cole and Cole alone. In 2015, the North Carolina rapper was named the highest paid rapper by Billboard, who was No. 27 on the overall list of musicians, earning $8.8 million in total revenue. The album was nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy, though it lost to Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, and went platinum in its own right in January of this year.

What's more, the release produced a live album and an homecoming documentary for Cole making it more than his most successful or popular album but his widest reaching as well. Fans looking to catch Cole live this summer can see his set at the Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival in Long Island, New York August 20 and 21 or at Chicago's Lollapalooza Festival July 28 to 31.

Eventually, the waves made by 2014 Forest Hills Drive will have to lead to a fourth release for Cole but in the meantime, he keeps racking up the plaques and accolades.

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